Milroy for Kids -- Selected Stories

About the letters

The letters written by General Milroy and his family are the kinds of letters you might send to your grandparents today. Misspelled words are common, and the letters sometimes use slang common to that time period. If you come across a word you don't understand, check a dictionary or ask an adult to help read the letters with you.

These documents contain some interesting stories in the collection:

The Ice Skating Party[2]
Gen. Milroy's daughter Ella talks about an ice skating party on the Iroquois River on Christmas Day, 1863.

Human Pygmies Found in Tennessee[3]
Gen. Milroy writes home, and in the last few pages of the letter talks about an archaelogical dig he attended, where the diggers found bones that appeared to be from small humans (pygmies), along with clay pots.

A typical day at home [4]
Ella Milroy writes about her math lessons and the trees coming into fruit in Rensselaer.